The 13th Jinling Beauty
By TheDigitalCoy
12/17/2023
It’s only fitting that SZN 1 - Muse series would drop almost exactly 2 years after I became intrigued by the ASH Community where many of my closest friends in the contemporary art scene were involved as artists and collectors. The people I met there are what kept me here for so long and continue to - you were all muses to me on many fronts. Thank you my friends for being muses to me.
The 13th Jinling Beauty is the 2nd work in my Muse Series after my KnownOrigin Genesis “Erato Polyhymnia” curated by Brian_Bixby (https://knownorigin.io/gallery/28132000-erato-polyhymnia).
This artwork is inspired by a character from the Dream of the Red Chamber/The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin who reminded me of my beautiful wife who has been my muse for nearly 20 years. In the Dream of the Red Chamber, there are 12 official beauties in the mortal world whom the main character BaoYu interacts with during his life and a 13th he interacts with in a dream where travels to heaven - this 13th is the culmination of all 12.
My wife and I first bonded through art when she was finishing up her art degree and I was working in the arts and entertainment industry as a graphic designer, film-maker, and talk radio show producer. My first taste of contemporary artistic collaboration was with her in 2004 and she has encouraged me to create throughout our life together. She also encouraged me to mint and share my work in late 2021-early 2022, has allowed me to attend IRL events around the world, and I hope with all my heart that 2024 will be the year that we can attend one together. It’s been hard to do so, but it is my goal to make it so! This work is about her, my 13th Jinling Beauty.
On the process:
I usually start with a concept or a poem. In this case, it was the concept of the muse. The original image was created using AI, in this case DALL-E2 on August 25, 2022 and was something I had been holding onto for the right work. The face and eyes struck me and reminded me of my wife who has a calm, kind, regal, and serene beauty about her. At the time the image was created it was an image, that at least for me, had soul. So I kept it hidden away for the future.
Well the future is now! I used various techniques to add layers of texture to the image (AI + Illustration) and for the animation used a distortion technique I discovered while creating a trailer video for a Art PFP series inspired by some science fiction series of poems I have been working on which this image was meant to be part of (and may still). I used AI to outpaint from the original image above and created various panels that I then composited in photoshop. I used RunwayML AI to help animate the
subtle moving panels of the initial triptych portrait at the beginning of the work. Most of the other animation was created using after effects and I used GarageBand to create the music.
The poem I wrote for the work is below. It was inspired by 13 beauties I came across over the course of my early adult life, with my wife being the final culmination, much like the 13th beauty from the Story of the Stone / The Dream of the Red Chamber by Xueqin Cao. But in this case, in this modern era where we have access to nearly the whole world to find love, I actually found her. Thanks Universe!
The 13th Jinling Beauty
In his dreams
He repeats: “thirteen, thirteen”
One, fiery and regal wreck
Two, calm and witty brook
Three, showy uncomfortable mess
Four, hungry fox
Five, shrew that must be tamed
Six, epitome of suppleness
Seven, quirky, kind and sad
Eight, damaged, innocence
Nine, naive mystery
Ten, trapped adventurer
Eleven, wise and maternal love
Twelve, understanding friend
Thirteen, the culmination blend
The best of everything in one.
And a sample quoted from the Dream of the Red Chamber, Book 1 by Xueqin Cao - read here on Google for free (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Hung_Lou_Meng/8Y1EAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover)
“Lo she just quits the willow bank ;
And sudden now she issues from the flower-bedecked house ;
As onward alone she speeds, she startles the birds perched in the trees, by the pavilion ; to which as she draws nigh, her shadow flits by the veranda !
Her fairy clothes now flutter in the wind; a fragrant perfume like not musk or flea is wafted in the air ; Her apparel lotus-like is sudden wont to move ; and the jingle of her ornaments strike the ear.
Her dimpled cheeks resemble, as they smile, a vernal peach ; her kinfisher coiffure is like a cumulus of clouds ; her lips part cherry-like ; her pomegranate-like teeth conceal a fragrant breath.
He slender waist, so beauteous to look at, is like the skipping snow wafted by a gust of wind ; the sheen of her pearls and kingfisher trinkets abounds with splendor, green as the feathers of a duck, and yellow as the plumes of a goose ;
Now she issues to view, and now is hidden among the floors ; beautiful she is when displeased, beautiful when in high spirits ; with lissome steps, she treads along the pond, as if she soars on wings or sways in the air.
Her eyebrows are crescent moons, and knit under her smiles ; she speaks, and yet she seems no word to utter ; her lotus-like feet with ease pursue course ; she stops and yet she seems still to be in motion ; the charms of her figure all vie with ice in purity, and a splendor with precious gems ; Lovely is her brilliant attire, so full of grandeur and refined grace.”
The full description of the work w/ visual examples & the poem can be found on this PDF on arweave:
https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/665bdd40-97eb-4da6-a560-af4095980d1b/view
The full resolution version can be found here:
https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/0061f63b-b7a9-47fa-b240-bc3167bc4b58/view
Medium, Techniques, & Tools: AI, Illustration, Digital Painting, Compositing, Animation, Music, Poetry.